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Just a disclaimer about the reviews that I post on this blog: I don’t do paid reviews. All reviews are done pro bono and reflect what I really think about the product. That being said, I usually don’t write reviews about products that I don’t like. It’s just a personal preference. Again, all review posts are NOT paid posts. Read more about this in my About page.

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Ink Swab: J. Herbin Emerald of Chivor Review

Last week I heard that J. Herbin’s new anniversary ink, Emerald of Chivor, has finally arrived in the Philippines. So I asked my favorite Scribe branch to reserve one for me, and I picked it up last Sunday. I’ve been looking forward to this ink for a while, so I was really excited to try it out.

I only use my bling-y anniversary inks with Lamy pens, but this time I thought I would be adventurous and try it with my Faber Castell Emotion with a medium nib. My first impression (as I waited for the ink to dry and show the sparkly bits), is that the base ink looks gorgeous. It kind of reminds me of Iroshizuku Syo-Ro, but darker. The gold bits on the bottle are also noticeably easier to shake than Stormy Grey. Perhaps the concentration of micronized particles for this color is lower? I’m not sure.

It is a pretty good-looking shade of blue-green, though. The ink flows really wet. I used it on a medium nib and it definitely flows wetter than other J. Herbin anniversary inks that I’ve tried. This review was written on the loose Tomoe River paper I got from www.pengrafik.com, and I must say…wowza! This combination is amazing. I’ve tried the ink on several different papers and of course, you need to get the right combination of nib and paper in order to bring out the sheen more effectively. On most papers, the micronized gold bits get distributed a bit evenly, making it look almost like colored sandpaper. See the closeup photo below of what it looks like on Mnemosyne’s paper.

It’s a bit harder to see the micronized gold specks. With Tomoe River paper, though, the sheen is so pronounced. The letters look like they’re glowing reddish gold, and the areas where the ink pools show more of the gorgeous sheen. The wetter the pen is, the more obvious the sheen. Here’s what it looks like with the pen newly inked:

This was written with my Lamy Safari’s 1.5mm nib. You can see the reddish gold sheen almost covering the dark blue green parts of the ink. The photo below shows my Emotion when it was newly-inked with Emerald of Chivor.

You can see the reddish gold sheen complements the dark blue green base color so beautifully. It actually reminded me of the color of beetles. I can say that it’s my favorite J. Herbin anniversary ink so far.

Here are a few close ups of the writing sample above.

The ink flows super wet, so I’m not sure if lefties who are over-writers will have a difficult time with it. It takes between 25 to 30 seconds to dry. Even if it’s nicely-saturated, it’s not very water resistant. It looks awesome when used with calligraphy nibs, such a head turner. It doesn’t hard-start after being left in the pen, unused for over a day. I’ll update this post if I notice any clogging issues when left unused for a few days.

Overall, I really like the base color of this ink. It’s suitable for daily writing. The sheen is spectacular (provided you find the right combination of nib and paper). Takes a long time to dry, but I think that’s alright. Hat tip to J. Herbin for making another wonderful anniversary ink!